I love the festive decorations that appear in December. A pretty evergreen wreath on the front door is a classic welcome during the holiday season. In preparation for our wreath classes last week, Gail and … Read more.

The name Pardee is derived from the French oath par Dieu which was Anglicised to Parde, Pardy, Pardie, and ultimately to Pardieu and Pardee. Around 1530 these families were living in the Normandy region of … Read more.

An Evening at the Opera, 1912 Bessie and William McKee spent their winters in Boston at their large, elegant townhouse on Commonwealth Avenue. Among their favorite entertainments was the Opera. They were members of the Boston … Read more.

There are often artists in the garden. Some bring easels and paints, others bring notebooks and pens, or just their imagination. Ellen Hoverkamp brought her flatbed scanner and laptop. If you did as I suggested … Read more.

This week we just about finished planting 300-something new perennials – with the garden volunteers’ help, thank goodness! – and that meant it was time to pick up another order. One of the highlights of … Read more.

I’ve always wondered a little at the seeming redundancy of the phrase “unexpected surprise”. But I think I get it now. I came back from vacation fully anticipating certain changes and was still caught off … Read more.